The night he took me away

Chapter 50

Francesco

     The pain was tolerable, at least for the last days. I couldn't even fucking walk quickly like I wanted to and always did. The first days hurt like shit and not even the pain killers helped me.
      Ava did everything possible to relax me and I loved her for the patience she had on me.
   Fuck I even felt like a baby. Or that's because I had never gotten this type of care from someone else besides my mother.
       Ava helped me to take a bath and that's when I caught her admiring my body as I did with hers. Sometimes I asked her to leave, that she didn't need to watch me the whole time, but then it wasn't worthwhile cause she didn't oblige. I managed a few times to make her go in with me where she would die laughing and be filled with my kisses all over her face and neck.
      She brought me food and medicines when I finished them, of course, she obliged me to take them and how could I say no to her?
     I didn't want her attention. More like I didn't deserve it but she hated when I said it. It was more like an exclamation saying, "No. A fucking thank you will be enough!"
      Her moods changed from time to time. But that's when I remembered she was pregnant. The idea hunted me.
    And relief filled me when her bump wasn't still noticeable. For now.
       Since I stayed in the bed, almost all day, I observed her.
      She left early to take care of Kiara and when she slept, she came to me. As I pretended to sleep, I noticed how she caressed her stomach, her hair, and her hands.
       And then sleeping beside me. Even when she slept during the afternoon, she moved towards me to seek my warmth.
      During these past years, I hadn't appreciated her the way I used to. I was so distracted by our escape plan that I had left her alone. Dealing with her silent suffering, doubt in me, concern...
       I have ignored our love. Tease. Humour.
    And those feelings returned after being shot. How nice of me. Ironic.
       I turn around carefully and lay a hand on her near her belly. She softly groans but her breathing is still calmed.
I'm sorry Angel that I've left you behind when you should be at my side at all times.
       I concentrated on her breathing this whole time, my soul fulfilling with peace and silence until finally, darkness took over me.

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      Mom?
   Someone was touching my face.
       "Son you have to wake up!"
       "What?"
    I blinked a few times.
       "Hide her!"
      
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     "Francesco wake up!"
  I blinked hard and noticed Ava's wide eyes on me.
     "What does it feel to sleep without worries?"
  I suddenly sit and place a hand on Ava's body as a shield.
     "Without worries?" I shake my head. "You think we must not worry of being killed by you or my father at any time?"
     Erik laughs with his two other men, whose names I already forgot.
        "Meanwhile your daughter lives, you will not be harmed. Not until she turns fifteen."
        "Where's Kiara?" Ava adds in a forceful tone.
        "She's with Matteo." The others add.
        "We didn't come for her but you two." Erik takes a few steps forward, glancing at both of us with a wide smile on his face.
      A smile I'm willing to wipe out.
          "Why?" I ask.
        Erik stares at Ava, and that's when I feel the trembling on her body.
           "Come on, Boss doesn't like to wait."
        I glance at Ava again but she avoids my hard stare at her, even when we both stand up at the same time.
           We began walking towards the door as the two men walked behind us and Erik went ahead of us.
      "I never understood why you like dominant females." He glances at me. "If a woman tries to go against my orders, she wouldn't make it out alive."
       "You repulse me!" Ava spits. "What about your mother? Did you kill her when she yelled at you when you didn't oblige her rules?"
       "I never got the chance to meet my mother, sweetheart. My father never let me get near her cause he feared I might be a warm-hearted man with women. And being in this business...we all need to be this way—"
        "Like monsters?"
        "Exactly."
     We remained walking in silence, Ava evading all my whispers filled with questions or my touch in his arm to at least make her look at me. Not once she obeyed and I was starting to get tensed.
         "Close the door, " My father said after we came into his office.
     My eyes scanned the room and this time Matteo wasn't around.
What the hell is happening?
          "I suppose you owe me an explanation, my dear." He stands up and walks towards us, passively. "Mmm?"
         He waited but she never spoke.
          "Erik can you please..please for the love of God repeat to all of us what you saw a week ago?"
       My body stiffens.
           "It was around three in the morning and Ava had Kiara walking at her side, well dressed meanwhile, she hold a backpack with all of her clothes."
     My heart skipped a beat and the beast inside of me roared in resentment.
"Explain yourself, " My father said bitterly in a loud tone.
In the beginning, I thought she was going to flinch but she didn't. She only raised her head to finally admit it.
"I did want her to send her away. And I will someday."
My father laughs.
"You know she needs family, huh?" he yells. "I have everything to give her. Her future is in my hands!"
"A future of being a sex slave?!" Ava dares to speak again.
My father falls silent.
"You fucking psycho believe she could have a fucking normal life surrounded by men that at any time could rape her?! She is my daughter! Not yours!"
    He lifts his hand to slap her but I caught his arm in the air before he could do it.
        "You touch her, I'll kill you."
      He looked at me with devil eyes for a moment. He wanted to hit me. Torture me. Kill me. But he knows I got used to his punishments throughout these years. So he knew there existed a way to make me feel that way when he glanced at Ava.
      Suddenly he nods at Erik and that's when I saw the knife in his hand. It all went into slow motion. I felt weak physically and emotionally but I managed to take the knife off him on time. But unexpectedly four men brought me to the floor and took the knife of my hand to place it on my throat.
      I fought against their hold, anger building inside of me, but more men came to help cause I was finally managing to push them off of me.
      My breathing panted and I exploded in outrage when I saw more men came towards Ava.
      My view was crossways when I noticed Ava began to fight against them. Expertly. But there were too many men.
      "Enjoy the show!" Erik whispered.
That's when I saw how the other two men began slapping Ava hardly until she fell on the floor. Her blood spilled all over the room. Tears finally falling on her cheeks.
         "I'll kill each one of you!" I yelled in a broken voice when I couldn't stand anymore how she got beaten, especially on the stomach.
      Tears blurred my vision and men began laughing at it.
         She sobbed and her voice was the only one I could focus on. Not on the insults they gave her or me.
    Her.
   Finally, she ended at my side, with her eyes closed. She gasped for air, his nose and lips covered in blood. It took her a while to finally open them and lock eyes with me.
        "I'm sorry, " I whispered.
        "Awe! Is he crying?!"
   Everyone laughed, except Erik.
      My blood boiled when I finally saw how they began lowering her underwear and their pants, that's when my eyes magnified.
          "Woah."
      Everyone fell silent.
           "Holy shit. Why is this amount of blood coming from—"
           "She was pregnant," Erik finished finally straightening, leaving only the three men to take hold of me, but I didn't even have the strength to fight anymore. My body froze at his words.
            "And you fucking tell me now?!" My father screamed and punched him.
        He licked the cut on his lip and nodded. "I forgot that tiny detail."
             He punched him again. "You fucking asshole. You know how sacred babies are in the famiglia."
       They began to argue and that's when I took advantage of getting the four men off of me, since all of them became distracted by the scene.
           I took the knife and threatened my father with it, placing it in his neck. Not leaving Ava behind in case someone wanted to threatened her as well.
        "You murdered my son!" I groaned between cries. "And you will pay with your life because of it!"
       "You kill him we kill your daughter!" Erik says passively.
     My hand trembled and pushed the knife deeper into his skin, not enough to make him bleed but to leave a mark instead.
         "She won't make it out alive if you kill him. Now put the fucking knife down."
      I glanced at Ava, where she had already passed out, and I couldn't lose her too. She needed a doctor.
           "Fine. But first I need a doctor for my wife."
     Erik nodded.
           "Alright."
  He gave a sign to one of his men, and he rushed through the doors and we waited until he came. A younger doctor that my father kept in the house, in case of an emergency.
       As soon as they pushed him over me, I lowered my knife and pushed my father towards Erik.
          I gently lifted Ava in my arms and left with the doctor at my side meanwhile, everyone took a step backward when I walked past them. Some even looked away and others just looked at me disgusted.
      My father and Erik didn't say anything else and I was glad for it cause if they did, I might have hurt them with anything I had near.
        I glanced at Ava as we walked and my heart throbbed in pain. There was a sort of guilt within me for taking too much time with this plan. But as I looked at what my father had done, I promised that once she recovers, we are leaving this place.

        Once we came into our room I laid her down carefully and faced the doctor after it.
        "If she dies...you die. Understood?"
     He trembled in fear and shook his head nervously.
         I walked towards the door to close it but that's when I saw Matteo closing Kiara's door as if he was leaving her room. That's when I grabbed him by his shirt and slammed him into a wall.
           "Did you fucking knew she was going to sent Kiara away?"
           "What?"
        I knocked him until he fell on the floor.
           "And if you knew did you told Erik about it?! 
           "I don't know what you're talking about I swear!"
       I hesitate.
           "Bullshit."
           "I don't need to prove to you that I'm not fucking lying! You know I would never do anything to harm her!" Matteo snapped.
      My nostrils flared with anger. And my hands were already white from my tight fists at my sides. But a cracking noise behind me put me on guard.
          "Daddy?"
      I turn around and see Kiara in her long nightgown yawning as she opened her bedroom door.
          "What are you—"
   I sigh in relief.
       I walked towards her and bent down. "I'm sorry Angel. Did the loud sounds woke you?"
          She nods and looks at me with sleepy eyes.
              I carried her and her head fell on my arm so rapidly. And before I closed the door I watched Matteo looking at me with hateful and confusing eyes for what had just happened.

'You know I would never do anything to harm her.'
      I'm doubting.